Week 39: Sam's Club

I've been a member of Sam's Club for nearly 20 years (Wow, now I feel old!).  My parents added me to their membership when I left for college because I would drive through a town where Sam's was and frequently Mom would want me to pick up this or that.  In my 20's, I shopped there more for myself and found that I bought numerous items, many of which I didn't need.

Today, I still make a once a month trip to Sam's.  However, I'm finding that I buy less and less there.  Where at one time I would have my cart loaded down, now I buy the same two dozen items in alternating months.  I buy Finish dishwasher tabs, Oxy Clean powder, nuts, spices, maple syrup, milk, cheese and frozen veggies and fruits.  This last time I also picked up a few packages of medicine (Benadryl, Tylenol, Prilosec-except Sam's brand).  I no longer buy the paper goods, chips, bread, fruit, etc. that made Sam's prices such a good buy.

Last Friday, I picked up my first order from Azure Standard.  I got coconut oil, GMO free canola oil, coconut, walnuts, vanilla beans, salt, carrots, potatoes, and oranges.  Most importantly, I got a catalog.  Going through it, I found that I can get most everything I can get from Sam's and it's only slightly higher priced, and much of it is organic, which Sam's is not.  Over the next month or two, I plan to phase out Sam's completely and order my bulk items through Azure Standard.  I will pay a little more in up front cost, but I don't have to drive 40 minutes to Sam's and spend 2 hours walking the aisles.  With Azure Standard, I can order online and just go to the drop site and pick up my boxes of already packaged items.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do about my Finish tabs or Oxy-Clean yet, but I think I might just ask Mom to pick me up some when she goes for her big trips and I'll pay her back.  That seems the easiest.

So far, I'm really impressed with the products I got from Azure Standard.  So much so that I think I'll try to do the bulk of my shopping from there and fill in with dairy and eggs from a local farm.  I'm sure that toward the end of the month I'll need fresh produce, but I'm thinking that this might be the best way to stay within my budget.  It keeps getting harder and harder to do that.